You won’t believe who JPMorgan just put in charge of its huge derivatives portfolio. What can possibly go wrong…

Submitted by IWB, on May 14th, 2012

We wish to welcome former LTCM trader, and current TBAC chairman, Matt Zames to his new post as head of the world’s biggest, government backstopped prop trading desk, with a hearty and sincere “good luck.” Because an ex-LTCMer in charge of ~$70 trillion in derivatives? Why, what can possibly go wrong…

Well, maybe this?

Finally, we urge readers to go easy on the JPM HR department: obviously all the JT Marlin traders were currently gainfully employed elsewhere and unable to step in and fill Ina Drew’s very big shoes.

A new federal bankruptcy court filing on Thursday showed that three current members of JPMorgan Chase’s executive committee had discussed, as early as June 2007, the possibility that Bernard L. Madoff was running a Ponzi scheme — as, indeed, he was — but (Matthew E Zames) took no action to protect investors or alert regulators.

The investment by the banks is a bet that they can turn the Jersey City, New Jersey-based TradeWeb into a dominant player in derivatives trading. “We will continue to see growth in securities, but the largest growth area will be in derivatives,” Zames, based in New York, said in an interview. “We’re open to expanding into almost any product.”